College Football Roundup

South Carolina's coach had intended since April for junior Tommy Beecher to lead the Gamecocks. But after Beecher threw four interceptions in his first start and backup Chris Smelley led three fourth-quarter touchdown drives in South Carolina's 34-0 win over North Carolina State on Thursday night, Spurrier's opened things up under center for next week's Southeastern Conference opener at Vanderbilt.

"Chris Smelley did come in and play very well. We'll have to wsatch the tape, analyze it to see what in the world happened to Tommy," Spurrier said.

Spurrier really had no choice, not after the performances of Beecher and Smelley.

Beecher, a fourth-year junior, completed 12 of 22 passes for 106 yards and those four awful picks. He came out late in the third quarter, the Gamecocks citing a head injury.

Smelley, a sophomore who started six games last season, looked smooth and confident as he connected on fourth-quarter touchdowns of 20 yards to Dion LeCorn and 13 yards to Jared Cook.

"I went out there and gave it everything I had," Smelley said. "I'd like to play next week. It's the thing I've been working for. We'll see how it goes."

And for three quarters, this had to be torture for South Carolina's head ball coach, famed for his quick trigger on bad quarterbacks.

Beecher was given the job by Spurrier in April despite throwing three interceptions in South Carolina's closing spring scrimmage. Ever since, Spurrier has stood solidly in Beecher's corner repeating the junior would have a chance to go the distance for the Gamecocks this season.

Beecher looked shaky from the start. He was intercepted by Jimmaul Simmons less than three minutes in, then took the first of his five sacks to end South Carolina's next series.

Beecher was picked off twice more before the half. Spurrier finally showed his trademark fire, tossing his visor, headset and game notes after Beecher's third interception sailed over receiver Moe Brown and into the hands of Justin Byers.

Maybe he bit his tongue, or repeated a calming mantra, but Spurrier continued to send Beecher back out in spite of the mistakes.

Beecher did not come out to talk with reporters.

Beecher was two interceptions shy of the Gamecocks single-game mark, set by Glenn Morris in a 17-7 loss to Clemson in 1971.

Lucky for the Gamecocks' their defense was there to clean up the mess.

The group, headed by new coordinator Ellis Johnson, bottled up the Wolfpack throughout. North Carolina State had just 117 yards and eight first downs through three quarters.

The closest the Wolfpack came to scoring was Josh Czajkowski missing a 49-yard field goal attempt.

South Carolina linebacker Eric Norwood recovered a botched shotgun snap at the Wolfpack 9 right before halftime that led to Ryan Succop's 29-yard field goal and a 3-0 lead.

Then on the Wolfpack's second play after halftime, Carlos Thomas stepped in front of a Daniel Evans pass for an interception at the North Carolina State 9. Four plays later, Davis lept into the end zone.

That was more than enough points to hold off the Wolfpack.

North Carolina State coach Tom O'Brien said his staff would have to reevaluate what they'd done so far and make corrections. "Basically, a tough start. The game was fine until the last series we fumbled the ball at the half, the first series of the second half, we let it gete away from us," he said. "From there, it seemed to go downhill."

Afterward, Johnson got a gameball from Spurrier. "I thought we played OK. It's not time to start breaking out the champagne or anything," Johnson said.

Davis finished with 101 yards, the senior's fourth career game of at least 100.

The game's most frightening moment came when Wolfpack freshman Russell Wilson, starting his first game, was carted off the field. Wilson was motionless as he was strapped to backboard and rolled onto a cart. He extended his thumbs upward to acknowledge the cheers of the players and fans at Williams-Brice Stadium.

North Carolina State officials announced Wilson had a grade-three concussion and was doing well after going to the hospital. He was scheduled for more tests.

VANDY BEATS MIAMI 34-13OXFORD, Ohio (AP) - Vanderbilt quarterback Chris Nickson rushed for a career-high 166 yards and two touchdowns and passed for another TD to lead the Commodores to a 34-13 victory over Miami of Ohio Thursday night.

The win was the first for the Commodores since Oct. 27, when they beat Miami 24-13. Vanderbilt then needed just one more victory to become bowl eligible but lost the final four games of the regular season.

Miamis only lead tonight came on a 37-yard field goal by Nathan Parseghian early in the first quarter. Vanderbilt went ahead for good when Nickson and Sean Walker hooked up for a 49-yard completion and then a 4-yard touchdown pass.

Vandy defensive back D.J. Moores interception led to a 42-yard field goal, and Moore later returned a punt 91 yards to the Miami 1, and Nickson plunged in from there to put the Commodores on top 17-3.

Nickson was 9 of 16 for 91 yards. Miami's Daniel Raudabaugh was 19 of 41 for 244 yards, with one touchdown and three interceptions.

TROY BEATS MIDDLE TENNESSEEMURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP) — DuJuan Harris ran for 148 yards and scored three touchdowns to lead Troy to a 31-17 victory over Middle Tennessee on Thursday night.

Harris scored on a 5-yard pass from Jamie Hampton to cap a 9-play, 70-yard drive with 11:40 left in the second quarter.

The Trojans (1-0, 1-0 Sun Belt Conference) capitalized off two Blue Raider turnovers to build a 17-3 advantage in the first half. Harris scored on runs of 5, 33 and 13 yards.

Joe Craddock, who completed 20 of 32 passes, threw for 200 yards and a 46-yard touchdown to Malcolm Beyah in the fourth quarter for Middle Tennessee (0-1, 0-1).

NESBITT, DWYER LEAD GA. TECH PAST JAX STATE, 41-14ATLANTA (AP) — Paul Johnson's triple-option offense was so effective that even Georgia Tech's first fumble with its new coach led to a touchdown.

Quarterback Josh Nesbitt, making his first start, ran for two touchdowns — including one after recovering his fumble — and Georgia Tech beat Jacksonville State 41-14 on Thursday night to spoil Ryan Perrilloux's debut with the Gamecocks.

Perrilloux was 22-for-37 passing for 136 yards, including two touchdown passes to Maurice Dupree, but he threw two first-half interceptions as Georgia Tech built a 27-0 lead. Morgan Burnett had each of the interceptions.

Jonathan Dwyer, also making his first start for Georgia Tech, had 10 carries for 113 yards, including touchdown runs of 21 and 29 yards in the first half.

Johnson, the former Navy coach, had his triple-option offense ready after much concern based on a rash of turnovers in the spring game and summer scrimmages. Georgia Tech ran for 349 yards and six touchdowns and had 484 total yards.

The 349 yards rushing are the most allowed by Jacksonville State since Nov. 16, 2002, when Johnson's Georgia Southern team ran for 493 yards.

"There's just too many issues with this offense for people to deal with," Crowe said. "We had two and a half weeks to deal with it. The rest of these folks will get two days. Good luck, ACC."

Georgia Tech (1-0) bills the new attack the "perfect option." The slogan seemed a good fit when even the Yellow Jackets' first fumble had a perfect ending. Nesbitt fumbled a snap near the goal line early in the second quarter but picked up the loose ball and scored from the 1.

Nesbitt also scored on a 2-yard run in the first quarter, and Dwyer had touchdown runs of 21 and 29 yards.

Crowe said his players "had Dwyer in our sights about three times and just couldn't tackle him."

"I think Jonathan Dwyer is a phenomenal player," Crowe said.

Perrilloux was in line to start for LSU this season before being dismissed by the Tigers for disciplinary reasons. Looking for a place to play immediately, he landed at the FCS school and immediately became the starter.

Perrilloux led the Gamecocks with 18 carries for 67 yards.

"We are a team that is very young and new to the big scene," Perrilloux said. "I think that played a part."

The second scoring pass from Perrilloux to Dupree, covering 16 yards, came with 37 seconds left.

Georgia Tech lost two of five fumbles and freshman Scott Blair missed field-goal attempts of 38 and 52 yards.

"Our kicking game was awful," Johnson said. "It couldn't be much worse."

Johnson said his first win at Tech "wasn't pretty" but added "41 points is a lot better than 14, I'm sure of that. An ugly win is better than a pretty loss."

Roddy Jones took a pitch from Nesbitt and ran 49 yards for a third-quarter touchdown, one of eight plays for Georgia Tech of 20 yards or longer.

"In this offense, you don't know when someone is going to break a long run," Dwyer said, adding Johnson "is very aggressive in play-calling."

Jones also caught a 39-yard pass from Nesbitt, who was 5-for-12 passing for 87 yards. Nesbitt rushed for 60 yards.

Georgia Tech was 1-for-2 on fourth-down conversions and had only one punt.

Freshman quarterback Jaybo Shaw played most of the second half for Georgia Tech and had a 33-yard run to set up his 2-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

Perrilloux was making his second start in Atlanta. He was named MVP of the Southeastern Conference championship game for LSU last season.

The Gamecocks were picked to win the Ohio Valley Conference, but the Football Championship Subdivision team was overmatched.

Jacksonville State trailed 21-0 before it finally managed a first down on a 10-yard run by Dupree with 12:30 left in the first half.

Georgia Tech's first turnover, a fumbled kickoff return by James Lipfert on the first play of the second half, set up Jacksonville State's first touchdown.

The Gamecocks took possession at Georgia Tech's 33. Perrilloux had runs of 12 and 15 yards before his 5-yard scoring pass to Dupree.

SAMFORD EDGES WEST GEORGIABIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Chris Evans rushed for 180 yards and two scores to help Samford slip by West Georgia 21-19 on Thursday night.

The Division I-A Bulldogs (1-0) needed a late interception to hold off the Wolves (0-1), a Division II team led by quarterback Sean Gray's 315 passing yards and two scores. Samford quarterback Matt Malouf passed for 101 yards in the victory.

Evans put Samford ahead for good with a 54-yard touchdown run at 10:37 in the fourth quarter, as a late 87-yard TD pass from Gray wasn't enough for West Georgia.

After Samford took the lead on a five-yard touchdown pass from Dustin Taliaferro, West Georgia tied the score at 7-7 at 11:59 in the second quarter on Gray's first touchdown pass. West Georgia took the lead for the first time in the game on a second-quarter field goal, but Evans would make that West Georgia lead its last after a six-yard scoring run in the third quarter.

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